a collection of what makes up our life here in this part of the world...
seeking balance, being present, living life, celebrating learning, capturing memories, being me

February 2010

02/28/2010

As Adam and I reflected on our day this afternoon...he commented that it was good, then bad and then good again. A recap for you so you can follow his thinking-

We were up early to head to the Arbutus Club for Adam's hockey game. Duncan came with us and was able to see Adam play two shifts. The first shift was great...Adam set up his team's first goal and then sent an amazing shot into the net's top corner to tie up the game. Duncan said,, "wow, he's really good!" and coming from a hockey player himself, this comes as a big compliment! We really do love the game of hockey in our family!

The next shift, Adam went down into the boards after a check and didn't get up and then he was rolling on the ice. I knew right away it was bad by the way he was moving. Short story is that we spent over 3 hours at Children's Hospital Emergency. This was the bad, bad part of the day.

Adam was put in a sling and had x-rays. He has a broken collarbone..OUCH! The xrays showed an angular fracture so the xrays are being sent to an orthopaedic surgeon. Sure hope we don't have to go there! Adam is out of all sports (and playing his trumpet) for 4-6 weeks.

They were AMAZING at Children's and when they saw that Adam was in tears about missing the start of the Gold Medal game, they all scurried around trying to find somewhere for him to watch! He ended up watching the puck drop in the doctor's lounge in the radiology department. Nice! We made it home to catch the second goal on tv and then all watched with rapt attention...Colin hid under the blanket occasionally and I had to walk away as I got too anxious at a few points. I am so glad they did it! What a great way to finish off the Olympics. This gold represents so much to Canada (there's a PhD dissertation topic there somewhere!).

And for those of you who missed it (hello?!)...here is a little celebration video:

We watched the closing ceremonies together...so nice to have done so much together to experience these Olympics. We're all going to go through withdrawal!

02/27/2010

Our alarm went off before 6am this morning as we had to be out at SFU by 7:30 to catch a shuttle to the Parallel Slalom Snowboarding event up at Cypress. When I woke up and heard the pouring rain outside, I was worried but I thought I was prepared with hand warmers, rain ponchos, boots and gloves and waterproof clothes for everyone. Tamara and Dave had tickets but coudn't go with their whole family due to a conflict so we were lucky to take our boys with Duncan. The shuttle was great but we were soaked during our 1+km walk to the venue on the mountain. We had to trudge through slush and pouring rain.

We got hot chocolate and all decided we were just going to make the most of it. We hiked up 215 very steep stairs to the grandstand.

We watched the snowboarders do two runs each...the qualification runs. It hailed, snowed, sleeted and rained on us. Colin was shivering and Duncan most politely commented, more than once, "Aunt Janice, I think we should go home."

We were excited to see three Canadians do great and advance to the next round but after a half-hour in the first aid warming hut for Colin and Duncan, Adam and I realized we were going to have to head out and not see the finals. I think all the boys still enjoyed going to another Olympic event though. Thanks for the tickets Tamara and Dave!

On the shuttle back, the boys ate Canadian chocolate chip cookies (with red candy maple leaves in them) and then Neil picked us up at SFU and we heard the great news that Jasey Jay Anderson had won the gold for Canada at the snowboard event...it would have been great to have been there for that whole experience and to sing O Canada but we were there in spirit!!

Duncan came back to our house and we ate red popcorn while watching the Canadians win gold in curling. What another golden day for Canada - 3! This evening the boys and Duncan filmed some of their own action videos (oh my!) and drilled through golf balls and other typical Kamide house activities.

And I'll leave you with an animoto recap of our Friday night downtown that I finished after doing my blog post yesterday:

02/26/2010

The boys and I watched some Olympic event afterschool today and then headed downtown on the Canada Line. We walked through Yaletown and ended up in Urban Fare to watch the last few ends of the Women's gold medal curling final. We were so wishing Canada would pull off an upset!

We rushed over to BC Place to attend a Victory Ceremony. Although it would have been great to see a Canadian get at medal there, we were all cheering for the curling silver and the gold and bronze in men's speedskating that they announced during the event. Great Big Sea was fabulous!

We left about half-way through the concert to try and catch the third period of the hockey game. At that point, Canada was up 3-0 so we weren't worried. There was no line at the Bell Ice Cube so we went in and Adam got his coveted Bell ear buds!

We watched the mens speedskating team win their gold and then got obsessed with the hockey game. Wow, was that intense! Colin said he could hardly breathe! The streets in downtown were CRAZY BUSY with people but I love all that and the boys scored hot chocolate with whipped cream from the lovely Salvation army folks...it was a GOOD GOOD night for us and for Canada!

02/25/2010

It was a day off from "work" today and I had a list of errands to take care of. As I headed over the bridge, I noticed how amazing the Oval looked in the sun, all done up for the Olympics. It has been so cool to watch the long track speedskating events on tv, knowing that we have skated on that same ice! That venue is something very special!

One of my things on my list today was hunting down some red mittens for a reader of another blog I read regularly...she lives in Washington State and really wanted some of the Olympic red mittens. The clerk at the Richmond Bay actually laughed at me when I asked about them! I had to head downtown anyways to get Colin some replacement biking gloves (long story...one is somewhere in Canada Hockey Place -lost as we trying to exit before the crowds on Tuesday night) so I hopped on the Canada Line downtown. The Bay had almost a two hour wait just to get into the Olympic Superstore. Crazy. I asked the guy at the door and he said they only had infant sized mittens anyways. So I wandered around and took some more pictures of some of the sights downtown.

Adam had his last regular season basketball game afterschool...

and then we got home to watch the Canadian women win the gold medal in hockey! We just had a quiet evening at home, watching more Olympic events. We were all so inspired and moved by Joannie Rochette's performance and bronze medal this evening. What a story!

The Olympics have been something very special for us here! I am so glad we have been a part of this.

02/24/2010

So yesterday was a huge success! The boys and I headed downtown on the Canada Line right after school and work and ran to get in line for the Royal Canadian Mint. We were hoping the rain would keep people away and shorten the wait time. Monday was a record day with people waiting 7-8 HOURS in line! The average has been 3.5-4 hour waits. When we arrived, the staffer said it would be about 3-3.5 hours so we decided to stick it out. It was raining but we were ready for that and it was actually ended up being very light sprinkles really so that was no problem. The boys found a covered bus stop on Granville and hung out there reading and playing on their ipod touches. I passed the time by chatting to all sorts of people in line around me. So fun!

I guess why it is such a big deal is that never in Olympic history has the public actually had the opportunity to hold the Olympic medals. That was the main reason we were there...and we were not disappointed! There was also gold bars and coins on display including a million dollar gold coin! There was also a Olympic coin trading booth where you could trade in a regular quarter for one of the special release quarters. We also were given pins to add to our collection! And we each got to keep the special white archival gloves we needed to wear to touch the medals.

So I am guessing you are wondering how long we waited...it was 2 hours 45 minutes. The shortest wait since the opening days apparently. It was under 2 hours outside and then an hour inside to get into the medal room. Neil actually met up with us as we stood first in line to move into the building...good timing Neil! We all thought it was so worth the wait and it is definitely one of the highlights of our Olympics.

We had some more yummy Japanese food for dinner before heading over to Canada Hockey Place for a 9pm mens qualification final hockey game. It was a very exciting game between Slovakia and Norway. Norway played with such intensity that I was hoping they would pull off an upset which they almost did in the last couple of minutes!

Today was a wonderful women's wednesday with 4 medals for Canada...all from women! Clara Hughes is just so inspiring and such an amazing athlete...6 medals in both summer and winter Olympics! And of course, Canada won the mens hockey game against Russia!

02/23/2010

1) The weather here has been amazing. All our spring perennials are blooming, bulbs are coming up and our fruit trees are all in bud.

2) When I was over at my parents house, I took a photo of their crocuses in bloom. Mom and Dad are always in Arizona in the spring so miss seeing these!

3) This weather is kind of clashing with the WINTER Olympics! When we were at the OZone on Sunday, we watched an international ice carving contests. The ice sculptures were massive. They intended for them to be around all week for people to see but when we went tonight and asked where they were, the attendant (who was shoveling ice remnants with a snow shovel) said they had all melted already!

4) The weather is changing today...cloudy with some showers coming!

5) There were some comments in the newspaper from tourists who travel all over the world to attend the Olympic Games. They said they had never seen a country so patriotic and proud and enthusiastic! Its so strange to hear that being said about Canadians...we are usually portrayed as being so reserved. Something about the Olympics has brought out a spirit that we've never seen before. It is everwhere...flags in windows and on buildings, Canadian car flags on so many cars, people dressed in red and white. So great!

7) We have tickets for the 9pm mens hockey game tonight. Its a qualification game between Slovakia and Norway. Will be another late Olympic night downtown!

8) The boys and I are heading downtown right after school. They REALLY want to go the Royal Canadian Mint building to see the medals. The waits in line to get in have been anywhere from 3-8 HOURS!! And of course, today it is raining. I have a feeling I am going to be dealing with two disappointed boys.

9) Amidst all this Olympic excitement, I am trying not to get too annoyed with the crowds, rules and line-ups (this all might be tested downtown this afternoon!) and just BE in the moment and enjoy it all. Ali Edwards is posting ideas each month to stay focused on your word of the year. For February she lists ideas such as finding and reading a book related to your word, photographing the letters of your word (maybe I will find a cool B and E downtown today) and writing a letter to yourself to read a year from now to see how your word had an impact on you. Ali's post is on her blog for February 1st.

10) A colleague posted this youtube video with Tom Brokaw explaining Canada to Americans. It apparently aired before the Opening Ceremonies. I thought it was interesting and will maybe squash some of the myths about Canadians...like we all live in igloos ;) Worth a watch!

02/22/2010

We had another gorgeous day here today. I took a walk break from work today at lunch. I was at the school board office which is right in the heart of the OZone area. City Hall looks so great!

And the cherry blossoms are in bloom! Crazy!

My niece Ainsley spent part of her 12th birthday at the Canada/USA hockey game yesterday...such a Canadian way to spend your birthday! Happy birthday Ainsley...and as I mentioned, the sewing machine comes with some time with Aunt Janice to work on some projects! I can just see Ainsley on Project Runway someday!

After Adam's hockey practice, we headed to the OZone this evening with the goal of getting on the outdoor skating track. Colin and I got our tix and then hung out for awhile before Neil and Adam met up with us. It was so great skating outside with all the lights!

After skating, Neil headed out to UBC as his dad was transferred this afternoon out to a medical rehab facility on campus. We know this means he is making progress!

02/21/2010

Last night was yet another fun Olympic experience. We had dinner at a Japanese "fast food" place on Robson and then walked over to BC Place for a Victory Ceremony. The focus of the evening was on the Yukon which was fun since Colin had just done a project on the Yukon in the fall and I had been there last year. It was great to see Jon Montgomery get his gold medal for skeleton - the crowd went crazy! It was also the boys first "rock concert" - Stereophonics.

This morning we hung out at home while Neil visited his dad at the hospital. We made some yummy snickerdoodle scones.

Adam had a hockey game this afternoon and then we tried to go skating at the OZone but the ice was full when we got there and waiting for the next time slot meant rushing to see the start of the big Canada vs. USA hockey game so we will try again during the week.

What a hard game to watch. Miller was amazing in goal for the USA! Canada sure had lots of shots on goal and lots of effort. We'll be cheering for Canada on Tuesday as they face Germany! I don't think there are any higher expectation for any athletes at the Olympics than on the mens' hockey team to win gold.

02/20/2010

So as we were driving from having a parking lot rendez-vous with my sister Tamara and nephew Duncan in North Van and on are way to park by a Canada Line station in Vancouver, Colin out of the blue asked:

"Would you rather have too much to do and too little time or too little to do and too much time?" Neil and I thought that was a pretty big question - Colin pulls this on us all the time! My reaction right away was too much to do and too little time...it's just the way I have been programmed! But my word of the year (be) is helping me to balance things a little more. I think Colin's question might have come from the blur of things this last week juggling work, school, sports and all the Olympic events and sites we can fit in! As some of the BC promotional posters say...BE HERE! And really, for these two weeks, that is what I am trying to do -just be here and enjoy all that we can about this experience.

Friday was another amazing sunny day and I took the boys and my nephews Ryan and Owen to the OZone. It was fun to ride the ferris wheel and see the huge cranberry-filled Olympic rings (they were supposed to float on the Fraser River by the Oval but the warm weather has caused a high running river which complicated things).

Today we dealt with stuff around the house this morning and then were off to the North Shore Winter Club for Adam's hockey game - another close playoff loss :( before meeting up with Tamara and Duncan for a bit and then heading downtown for dinner and a victory ceremony. It was the boys' first "rock" concert (gone are the days of Charlotte Diamond...) and I'll post some "footage" tomorrrow.

02/19/2010

We all had a pretty amazing Olympic night last night. Neil and the boys attended the Canada vs Switzerland mens hockey game which went to overtime and then to a shootout! Colin said he felt like he was about to fall down stairs the whole time. I thought that was a great way to explain the anxious excitement that you feel! Seeing Team Canada play such an exciting game will probably be the highlight of the Olympics for the boys, and Neil!

They visited the Yahoo place and a few other sites before the game and then the Canada and Manitoba pavilions after. There is so much to see and do downtown right now!

My friend Gayle and I went to the final of the mens' figure skating. It was a LONG night with a lot of skating but it was an experience and a bonus to see the medal ceremony right there. Gayle and I never really knew for sure what kinds of marks the skaters would get. Its sure different watching skating on tv when you have the ongoing commentary to help you! I've been trying to catch a bit of the reaction today and its seems quite mixed. I guess the lack of the quad for the American who won gold is a bit of an issue.

After school today the boys has a visit with their cousin Emma while her brothers and dad were at a hockey game. And then we spent the rest of the afternoon evening with Ryan and Owen while Emma and my sister Jen were at figure skating. They head back to Philly tomorrow...our boys are always sad to see them go!